Thursday, October 21, 2010

The people that read this blog have been doing so for years and therefor know me.These are my opinions, and only my opinions. They don't reflect the opinions of my employer or family members or even the neighbors cat! (that I know of)As you can tell by the two post's before this, we will stand and be counted. I am my fathers son after all.Juan Williams is a liberal twit that makes me want to puke most days. Today I find myself in the damn odd position of.... wait for it.... agreeing with him! Yep, muslims on an airplane make me nervous too! The garbage that killed those on 9-11 did so in the name of Allah, and ....wait for it.......islam! They did not do this in the name of Peaches and Herb, or any other obscure seventies music act!So Juan thinks like most of the rest of us. I'll be damned. Whodathunkit!

Monday, October 18, 2010

In keeping with Don's comment, it was much the same at our house.Mom walked in to wake Dad, and got grabbed and thrown onto the bed with hands on throat.He kissed her and asked her to never do that again. Just say his name quietly and he would answer. This is what I did as a kid growing up. All I had to do was say "Dad" in a normal tone once. He would answer me.One of his neighbors had a bunch of kids. One of the Daughters was and still is in the Marines. Dad was napping in the yard when she went outside to practice with her trumpet.She played Boots and Saddles. He was up like a shot!Some things you never forget, even into your seventies.So Dad told me that he was a guest of the North Koreans for three days, when their position was over run.He said that they would roll a ball of sticky rice across the dirty floor to you. If you reached out to take it they would strike you on the hand with a cane with a cartridge attached to it. They would then say Dong Ho? (Sp?) Does it hurt?He wouldn't eat the rice. Said he lost a bunch of weight in three days.I asked him how he got out of that? He said the Rope Runners came and got him."Rope Runners?" I asked him? The 101st Airborne. Fitting, as Dad was 11Th Airborne.As I have aged I have come to understand that I know very little of the man I call Dad.The man that used to come home after 10 to 12 hours at the plant, and drop his lunch pail at the steps on his way to pick up his ball glove is just one small part.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

So I was having a conversation with my Dad the other day. He tells me how to tame a gun that I bought. Seems I need to strap it to my arm to hold it down. He would know. This type weapon was used against him in Korea. So we never had rice when Dad was home when I was a kid. We didn't eat Chicken either. I found out about the rice just this week.Dad never talked about the war much. He would tell us kids things that we could use in our day to day lives to make things easier, but seldom blood and guts. He won a battle field commission while there. He declined. I only know of this through my Mother. I know that when he got home he slept a lot.My Uncle Edward, of Iwo Jima fame picked at him some.He ran into Dads bedroom one night screaming Asian words and jumped on the bed!Grandpa pulled Dad off before Ed got killed. Ed was 6'4" and 260#. He had Dad by about 50# and was a Martial arts instructor. Dad was jamming Ed between the bed and the wall head first! Continued